European Merchant Bank (“EMBank”) started its third year of operations in Lithuania profitably, earning a net profit of EUR 131 thousand over the first half of the year, compared to a EUR 709 thousand net loss over the same period last year. These improved results were determined by the successful recruitment of the best talent, development of a partner network and investments in advanced IT solutions, as well as close attention to risk management and creating a positive customer experience.
EMBank’s other performance indicators also improved: its gross income in the first half of the year almost doubled to EUR 3.1 Mn, while the number of business loans signed by the bank increased by 20 % for a total of EUR 24 Mn, increasing the bank’s net interest income to EUR 684 thousand – nearly 250 % more than during the same period last year. The asset size of the bank reached EUR 114 Mn, while the number of deposits increased by 37 % to reach a total of EUR 95 Mn within the same period.
EMBank CEO, Sarp Demiray, said that although there have been limitations due to the complex geopolitical and economic situation, these results were in line with the bank’s ambitious projections. “The fact that we have become a profitable bank is a great achievement for our brilliant team, and it is also a justification of our business plan and its execution. Within this short period, we have successfully completed major projects to strengthen our payment capabilities, extended our range of financing products and completed significant platform-level improvements. We’ve also managed to establish strong risk management in every dimension of our operations. With our marketing initiatives, we now have much more established brand recognition and we succeeded in doubling the number of our customers compared to the same period of last year. Our continuous dedication to recruiting the best talent has enabled us to achieve strong results even in these turbulent times, and gives us the strength to reach our ambitious growth targets,” said Mr Demiray.
The CEO predicts that the bank’s business loan portfolio will reach over EUR 30 Mn by the end of this year, and will almost double to approach over the EUR 60 Mn mark in the next two years. He also revealed that EMBank is planning to reach an operating income of over EUR 16 Mn, while increasing its number of customers by more than 20-fold in the next four years.
The bank will soon introduce new products such as a leasing service, as well as additional payment options and credit card services, in order to strengthen its ability to serve small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). At the same time, EMBank is expanding its BaaS capabilities and payment services, to further support its position in serving the needs of FinTechs and global corporations, while also investing in its mobile banking platform and flexible decision-making systems.
The Chairman of the EMBank Supervisory Board, Ekmel Cilingir, emphasised that the bank will continue to focus on its SME customers. “Our improved results in the first half of the year were greatly influenced by the fact that we managed to secure the trust of our customers. This means a lot to us. We are on the right track, so small and medium-sized businesses will remain our target segment in the Lithuanian market, and we will remain ready to help them choose the financial solutions that best meet their needs. We offer what is most important for these companies – personal attention, high-quality services and financial solutions that are easy to understand,” said Mr Cilingir.
EMBank is licensed by the European Central Bank (ECB) and is a member of SEPA, SWIFT and TARGET2. The bank provides working capital and investment loans, especially for SMEs, the bank also offers Banking as a Service (BaaS) solutions. EMBank’s main customers operate in the fields of manufacturing, agriculture, wholesale and retail trade, transport, rent and leasing, real estate and construction.
